PayPal and Skype team up for mobile payments

PayPal has announced a new deal with Skype that will allow users in 22 countries worldwide to send money to other Skype users through an updated version of the Skype mobile app.

This extends PayPal’s potential reach by a sizable amount – the Skype app has been downloaded over a billion times to date, and has approximately 300 million monthly active users.

To use the feature, users will need to be on the latest version of the Skype mobile app. Then select “Find” on the top bar while in conversation with a friend or family member, and choose the “Send Money” add-in, just type in the amount to send, confirm the payment, and hit send to complete the transaction.

The feature is designed for sending money between friends and family – not payments for goods or services from a business. And like PayPal’s peer-to-peer payments on other platforms, the rates are the same. That is, sending is free when you use your PayPal balance or debit card in the US If you choose to use a credit card instead, the fee is 3.4 percent of the transaction amount plus USD 0.30.

This is the latest in a series of partnerships PayPal has announced in recent months, as it works to solidify its position. The company has also recently announced integrations with Samsung Pay, Android Pay, and Baidu; and extended its partnership agreements with Citi and Chase. And on the technology side of things, PayPal has introduced instant bank transfers, Siri integration, support for payments in iMessage, Slack, and Microsoft’s Outlook.com.